Type | Star |
---|---|
Magnitude | 3.8 | Right Ascension | 2h 2' 2.8" (2000) |
Declination | 2° 45' 50" N |
Constellation | Pisces |
Classification | kA0hA7Sr+kA2hF2mF2(IV) |
Andrew Cooper
Dec 7, 2020 Waikoloa, HI (map)
20cm f/6 Newtonian, Cave Astrola @ 76x
Seeing: 6 Transparency: 7 Moon: 0%
Brilliant blue-white, this 1.8" pair is just starting to split enough to note that the pair is aligned east to west with both stars white, 112 Psc is 35' northwest
Captain William Henry Smyth
Dec 2, 1834 No. 6 The Crescent, Bedford, England (map)
150mm f/17.6 refractor by Tully 1827
A close double star, at the sf extreme of the ribbon of the Fishes, where it is readily identified, by carrying a line from β Ceti over θ, and rather better than as far again to the north-west, —it is also in mid- distance between ν Ceti and α Arietis. A 5, pale green; B 6, blue. This splendid object is H 12 II., and was thus registered:Pos. 337°23' Dist. 5".12 Ep. 1779.80As that astronomer obtained an angle of 330° in position, twenty- three years afterwards, he was led to suppose a retrograde motion: all the subsequent observations, however, of H. S. D. Σ. and myself, prove the fixity of these stars. But there is an appreciable movement in space, perhaps common to both, of which the values for A have been thus estimated :P.... RA -0".06 Dec. -0".09Pisces is one of the old forty- eight asterisms, and the twelfth or last sign of the old zodiac. The constellation consists of two Fishes linked by a ribbon, or string, attached to their tails, and divided by Hevelius into linum boreum and linum austrinum; they occupy a large space in the firmament, the one being under the wing of Pegasus, and the other under the right arm of Andromeda, in the position described by Manilius:
B.... +0".14 +0".01
T.... +0".02 +0".01
[Gaia DR2 +0".032692 -0".002895]Dissimile est illis iter, in contraria versis.The conspicuous rectangular figure in Pegasus is a guide to the position of these two Fishes; the line of α Andromedæ and γ Pegasi being parallel to the body of one Fish, and that of γ and α Pegasi to the body of the other. The equinoctial colure now passes through this "watery trigon," which was not a favourite sign with astrologers; indeed, Mr. John Gadbury, —albeit it was notorious that, under dominance of "ye Fysches," it was good to "wed a wyfe, and to trete frendys," —says, "I know Pisces to be a dull, treacherous, phlegmatic sign." Yet this visionary φιλομαθηματικοσ was consulted on mundane affairs by the Parliament of England! The star α —the Syndesmos of the Greeks —has been called Okda, from the 'Okdah al Khaïlaïn, or "knot of the two threads," of the Arabian savans; and the component members of Pisces have been thus stated:Ptolemy . . . 38 stars Hevelius. . . . 39 starsEratosthenes considered that this asterism symbolized the Syrian Derceto, and it has therefore been represented with a woman's head on a huge fish's body. The Scholiast on Aratus says, that the Northern Fish was figured with a swallow's head, and called Χελιδονιασ; while the two collectively were called Gemini Pisces, to distinguish them from the Southern Fish. Hence, also, the Al-semakataïn of the Arabians; but the term Echiguen in the Arabo-latin Almagest has defied commentators, unless Ideler's notion of its being a corruption of 'Ιχθνεσ be accepted. The same astronomers attributed great influence over man to such planets as happened to be in this sign: and we learn from the translation of the Ysagogicus of Alchabitus, 1485, that in such case, Saturn had full dominion over humeros, et brachia, et collu; Venus presided over collu et dorsum, and Jupiter over cor et caput.
Tycho Brahe . 36 Flamsteed . . . 113
Bayer . . . . 37 Bode . . . . . 257― A Cycle of Celestial Objects Vol II, The Bedford Catalogue, William Henry Smyth, 1844
112 Piscium | Alpha Piscium A | Alpha Piscium B |
IC 194 | IC 197 |
Drawings, descriptions, and CCD photos are copyright Andrew Cooper unless otherwise noted, no usage without permission.
A complete list of credits and sources can be found on the about page